IRISH LAND SETTLE-MENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13410, 30 April 1909, Page 7

IRISH LAND SETTLEMENT.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT*. SOME REMARKS ON IMMIGRATION. Some extremely interesting remark* on the scheme of close settlement oS Irish lands, and the subject of emigration from tho Old Countries to the colonies, were made to a representative of "The Press" yesterday by I>r. Hodekin, an English ex-banker, and an author of several notable historical works, who is on a visit to New Zealand. Dr. Hodgkin has taken a very great interest in Irish land matters, and is actively connected with the scheme which is referred to below. Ho has associated himself with those who are endeavouring to solve the Irish land problem, and has worked for the catiso of tho small farmer with both energy and enthusiasm. •'I am v friend and admirer of Sir Horace Plunkett, who has been striving t/> promote the welfare of Ireland on non-party lines," said Dr. Hodgkin. "Some few years ago he was instrumental in calling together the Recess Committee, during the recess of Parliament. Orangemen, Nationalists, Conservatives, and Liberals all united and started a movement in which, I hope, all parties will join, though they have done so only to a limited extent at present. "Sir Horace Plunkett's great ob]ect was to promote co-operation, and particularly co-operative farming, whero the holdings are small, and it is impossible for each individual to get his produce to market on the most favourable terms. There must be co-operation in these circumstances. Our English farmers are Very slow to take the hint, but in Ireland the scheme has succeeded remarkably well, and we hope that it will go further forward. "There has just been presented to Sir Horace Plunkett a. house in Dublin, called Plunkott House, which is to be the headquarters of the movement. It >.•> hoped to make it ah Institute for the Promotion and Development of Agrieulttiro. His point is that much has boon done for the development of manufactures and tho promotion of the social improvement of towns,, and that not nearly enough has been done on similar lines for the country. There must be a sustained and thoughtful effort towards co-operation in order to bring up the agriculture of Ireland— and, Sir Horace says, of America also— to anything like the same level which is occupied by the great urban industries.

"One of the things which has interested mc, as an ex-banker, has been the establishment of Raffcisen banks— an idea borrowed from Siftsia. The object of these .banks is to promote loans to small farmers of small sums on very moderate terms. It delivered them from what is in Ireland a very serious cvil —the bondage of what.is called the "gombeen man," i.e., the money-lender. The loans, which are for some definite agricultural purpose, are guaranteed by the borrowers' neighbours. No advance is made until the man's neighbours say that they think it is safe, arid in the very rare cases of default the neighbours have to make good the deficiency. That enables the loans to be made on very moderate terms, the interest being something less than 6 per cent. In practice this joint and several liability is scarcely ever resort-* ed to, but there it is, and to a certain extent it forms a sorb of guarantee of the safety of the loan. The scheme is one of the many illustrations of the principle of co-operation. "With the changing circumstances of Ireland—the land passing into , , the ownership of small farmers, many of them imperfectly educated—it fs important that this co-operative .movement ehould move along side by side with the changes. It has lessons for other countries beside Ireland. Getting the people back to the land is one of the most crying heeds in our country, from every point of view/ moral, physical, and political. I 3mve a very strong teelingfthat we ought to be at work promoting scientific emigration from the old countries. We should not aimoly "hurl our wasters out to thie colonies, but choose the emigrants carefully, and send them out according to the old Greek system, under which families and whole villages were sent away. Thus old ties were . not altogether broken when they got,into the new country. If this were done side by side with the 'back to the land , movement it need not be a movement that the Labour Party should! have any fear of. We don't want to 6end out colonists' to increase the stress of unemployment in the towns, but we do want them, both, at Home and abroad, to get on to the.land and develop the resources of their country; If that were done scientifically it is -not a movement which true friends of Labour need regard with, doubt or suspicion. It would do more than many battleships to secure the country from invasion. If the population of Australia were double what it is to-day, the most adventurous power would think a long time before invading it. Judicially promoted, immigration isth* true defence of Australia, and I only wish that it had been set about a- few years ago."